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The Vanity of This Life and Its Pleasures
John MacDuff
John Ross MacDuff (1818–1895) was a Scottish preacher, pastor, and prolific author whose devotional writings and sermons left a lasting impact on 19th-century Presbyterianism. Born on May 23, 1818, near Bonhard, Scone, Perthshire, to Captain Alexander MacDuff and Margaret Ross, he grew up in a devout family and pursued theological studies at the University of Edinburgh. Ordained in 1842 by the Church of Scotland, he began his ministry at Kettins Parish in Forfarshire, serving there until 1849, followed by a pastorate at St. Madoes, Perthshire, from 1849 to 1855. In 1855, he took the pulpit of Sandyford Parish Church in Glasgow, where he remained until retiring in 1870 due to health concerns. Married twice—first to Ann Joan Seton in 1844 until her death in 1850, then to Louisa Sobieski Stewart in 1852—he had children with both wives, though specific details are limited. MacDuff’s ministry extended beyond the pulpit through his extensive literary output, producing over 60 works of devotional literature, including Memories of Gennesaret, The Gates of Prayer, and the widely cherished The Morning Watches and The Evening Watches. Known for his poetic and comforting style, his writings offered spiritual solace, often reflecting his own experiences of loss and his focus on Christ’s love—Charles Spurgeon praised them as “full of sweetness and light.” After retiring, he lived in Chislehurst, Kent, continuing to write and preach occasionally until his death on April 30, 1895, at age 76. MacDuff’s legacy endures as a preacher whose heartfelt sermons and books provided enduring encouragement, earning him posthumous recognition with a named residence hall at the University of St Andrews in 2009.
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This sermon emphasizes the insufficiency of earthly possessions and pleasures to bring true and lasting satisfaction. It highlights the transient nature of worldly pursuits and the eternal fulfillment found in setting our hearts and minds on heavenly things, where Christ reigns. The message urges listeners to seek the everlasting joy, fellowship, and inheritance promised in God's kingdom, contrasting it with the fleeting and unsatisfying nature of earthly treasures.
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Is This All? By John MacDuff Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3, 1 and 2 The history of six thousand years has given indisputable evidence of the insufficiency of all earthly objects to yield true and satisfying enjoyment. Man has needs which no earthly riches can supply. He has soul diseases which no human skill can cure. He has fears which no mortal courage can quell. He has debts which no finite resources can discharge. And he has miseries which no earthbound sagacity can console. In earthly things, to whatever extent they may be possessed, there is a lack of adaptation to yield real happiness. It is recorded of Caesar that he exclaimed when in possession of universal empire, ìIs this all?î His expectations of happiness were not answered by the attainment of worldly things. Reader, have you not often felt something similar to this? You may have set your heart upon some distant object, and oh, what sacrifices you made for its attainment! What self-denial did you undergo? At length, perhaps, the desire of your heart was granted you. But was it what you expected? Were you not, on the contrary, led to exclaim, in the language of the disappointed emperor, ìIs this all?î It is an absolute certainty that the things of earth cannot satisfy the cravings of our immortal nature. Wealth, fame, learning, pleasure, domestic happiness, none of these things can do it. Whoever drinks of these waters shall thirst again, as the Saviour declared to the Samaritan woman. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. But the things of earth, besides being unsatisfying in their nature, are at best transistory in their duration. ìWhat are riches, uncertain,î is the epithet which the pen of inspiration employs in describing them, 1 Timothy 6.16. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven, Proverbs 23.5. What is pleasure? Something that is only for a season. What is wisdom? More precious than rubies, if it is the wisdom which comes from above. But if it is the wisdom of this world, it also is vanity and will soon pass away. What is fame? Often a bubble, no sooner blown than it bursts. Yes, the earth itself is only temporary. A Roman general on one occasion, when elated by the splendors of a triumphal entrance into the imperial city which had been awarded to him in honor of the victories he had won, exclaimed, ìAh, that it would continue!î But, alas, it did not continue. All the glittering pomp soon vanished, it floated away like a fleeting dream, and so with all earthly bliss it will not and cannot continue. Had earthly things a character of abiding permanent belonging to them, men might with some semblance of reason make them the fit objects of their desires and pursuits. Such a character, however, they do not possess. The world with its lust is passing away. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? But, O blessed heavenly world, this fullness of joy, this unclouded vision of God and the Lamb, this sweet fellowship with saints and angels, this day without a night, this sky without a cloud, this sea without a ruffle, these ravishing melodies, this seraphic transport and exulting joy, they will continue and that forever. We have a priceless inheritance, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay, 1 Peter 1, 4. O what folly, O what madness, that my thoughts should go astray after toys and empty pleasures, pleasures only of a day! This vain world, with all its trifles, soon, alas, will be no more. There's no object worth admiring but the God whom I adore.
The Vanity of This Life and Its Pleasures
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John Ross MacDuff (1818–1895) was a Scottish preacher, pastor, and prolific author whose devotional writings and sermons left a lasting impact on 19th-century Presbyterianism. Born on May 23, 1818, near Bonhard, Scone, Perthshire, to Captain Alexander MacDuff and Margaret Ross, he grew up in a devout family and pursued theological studies at the University of Edinburgh. Ordained in 1842 by the Church of Scotland, he began his ministry at Kettins Parish in Forfarshire, serving there until 1849, followed by a pastorate at St. Madoes, Perthshire, from 1849 to 1855. In 1855, he took the pulpit of Sandyford Parish Church in Glasgow, where he remained until retiring in 1870 due to health concerns. Married twice—first to Ann Joan Seton in 1844 until her death in 1850, then to Louisa Sobieski Stewart in 1852—he had children with both wives, though specific details are limited. MacDuff’s ministry extended beyond the pulpit through his extensive literary output, producing over 60 works of devotional literature, including Memories of Gennesaret, The Gates of Prayer, and the widely cherished The Morning Watches and The Evening Watches. Known for his poetic and comforting style, his writings offered spiritual solace, often reflecting his own experiences of loss and his focus on Christ’s love—Charles Spurgeon praised them as “full of sweetness and light.” After retiring, he lived in Chislehurst, Kent, continuing to write and preach occasionally until his death on April 30, 1895, at age 76. MacDuff’s legacy endures as a preacher whose heartfelt sermons and books provided enduring encouragement, earning him posthumous recognition with a named residence hall at the University of St Andrews in 2009.